Brennen Michael is 1 month

My last baby (maybe) is already a month old! HOLY COW, where did that month go? It seems like I just had him and technically I guess I did since I haven't slept since he came out!

 

 

Don't you love this picture!?! HA. It's the best I could get with Teagan trying to "help", Emmersyn screaming because she's sick, and him closing his eyes every time I snapped the shot. 

Brennen, at one month you:
weigh 9lb2oz with a full diaper and clothes on so probably close to 8lbs
sleep most of the day and are up every 3 hours for a bottle
just switched to formula and are eating about 3 oz (2oz of formula and 1oz of breastmilk) every 3 hrs, except at night you go for a 3.5-4hr stretch for one of the feedings.
like to be held or upright in a bouncer or boppy
pretty mellow, which is nice since your sisters like to climb on you
get kissed a LOT during the day

SNOW!!!

We FINALLY got the snow they've been predicting. Teagan was SO excited. I had a few errands to do and went out and got Teagan a snowsuit and some boots and we went and played! The snow was PERFECT for builing a snowman. That's exactly what we did and Teagan LOVED it and helped a ton. 

 

Here's the finished project. I was quite proud of the snowman and we even found some sticks for the arms. *We don't have trees in our yard but somehow had a huge limb by our fence. Not sure how that works

It's her birthday and....

She can cry if she wants to....obviously she can based on this picture

 

 

My poor baby girl spent her birthday VERY sick. The night before she started running a fever and it got to 102 degrees. She was eating and drinking though so the on call doctor said it was probably just a virus that would have to run it's course. (It's been 2.5 days and she is STILL running the fever)

 

BUT....even though she was sick, she still went to town on her birthday cupcake.  She ate about 97% of it and was so excited about it too. I think she gets that from her mommy! HA

We were planning her party for tomorrow (Sunday), but since the birthday girl is miserable, we canceled. She's just a baby so it probably won't traumatize her too much.

Emmersyn is ONE!!!

It is so hard to believe that Emmersyn is already ONE! Where did the past year go? I can't even remember how little she was and now she's walking, talking, and eating real food. 



 

 Look how tiny my little girl was. 6lb5oz and the size of daddy's hand! A newborn diaper barely fit.

3monthes and sitting (kinda) pretty in her Easter dress.

6monthes and ready for some fun in the sun

 9monthes and all smiles. Always such a happy, easy baby and mommy and daddy LOVE that about you!

Happy FIRST birthday baby girl! You are such a joy and are definately meant for our family!

At one year, you:
Weigh 22lb7oz (75th percentile) and are 30.5inches tall. (80th percentile)
Sleep from 8:30pm-7am with one wake up around 4 for a bottle, but never get out of bed
you take 2 naps still, but only one of them will be longer than a half hour
wear a size 12 month in clothes although some are too short if they're one piece outfits
LOVE food and eat anything. We haven't found a food you won't eat, but your favorites are bananas, fruits, spaghetti, breads, and well, basically anything we are eating. Teagan loves to "share" her food with you
love kissing your brother. You walk over and go "awwww" and bend down and kiss him
are a full fledge walker (for about a month now) and can bend down and pick things up without falling
wear a size 4 diaper
say "dadda", "momma/mommy", "ba-ba" (bottle), and sometimes "bye bye"
you hold up one finger when we ask how old you are, but I have to prompt you by saying "one"
love to play peek a boo with daddy
adore your big sister and little brother, I am so happy you are not too jealous of Brennen. Although if I'm holding him, you want to be held too
don't like riding in the car much, especially at night/dark.
LOVE being rocked to sleep at night by mommy and mommy secretly loves it
Love to climb and have absolutely no fear at all of anything.

We Love you Emmersyn Shea!

Christmas Cards

I absolutely LOVE getting Christmas cards with family pictures on them! I secretly wish there was a holiday or a kids birthday in June so I could get some made every 6 monthes, but my cheapness keeps me from doing that.  I am truely blessed to have such a happy, healthy family and after the year I've had with medical issues I do not take any of it for granted!

 

This is the Murray family last Dec. I was about 34 weeks preggo with Emmersyn (I delivered at 38wks) and cannot believe how young/little Teagan looks.

And this is our 2012 Christmas card. It was a hassle to say the least to get it made, but I do believe the picture is well worth the wait! Of course, it's the only one we ordered, but at least I got the picture! I think it's one of my favorite pictures ever! Amazing how much my family has grown in just one short year!

Merry Christmas from the Murray family!

Preschool Christmas Program~2012

Teagan had a VERY special day planned for Sunday.  She had her very first Christmas Program for school. She has been singing for weeks, but every time I asked what she was going to sing I got the same response "it's a secret".  The only song I was able to guess was "we wish you a merry Christmas" and then she'd start singing songs that I had no idea what they were! Of course, her tone wasn't perfect, but she's 3!



 

The kids were suppose to dress in their "sunday best" which for all first time performers means "dress the kids up".  We had several Christmas dresses for dance, Santa pictures, parties, etc, but I decided to go with purple instead. My mother in law got Teagan this dress and I don't honestly know where she'd wear it other than the program and I knew most of the kids would be in red or green and didn't want to conform! HA...actually, it was the only thing that all the parts were clean and readily available for...yes, mom of the year nominee again please!

 

 She looks so grown up. She had to wear my sunglasses on the way so she could "be mommy". It's hard to believe she's this big already!

Here she is lining up with some of the class. Since she's so tall, she got the back row.  There's still another row of kids that line up after this photo.

Teagan did very well singing and doing all the hand motions. She is really into singing and dancing in front of people so maybe she'll be some sort of performer when she grows up, but who knows.  She is definately a something else and I love her to pieces! And....I'm very thankful all the performing is over for the season!

Christmas Fun

Friday during Emmersyn's nap, Teagan and I made some cutout cookies. I had made the dough in the morning and had it in the fridge chilling until naptime.  Teagan helped cut out all the cookies and even helped roll out the dough first!  She was all about it!  As I was making the dough, I thought it seemed like a lot of the ingredients, but since I was trying out a new recipe I just went with it.  It made a TON of cookies so I decided to text some friends to see if they wanted to come over Sat to decorate!

 

Teagan's buddy Lucas was the only one who was able to make it, but we had fun. The kids played, ate, and decorated cookies while the adults had a little adult talk time...as much as we could with 5 kids ages 3 and under running around! I'm glad the Hamm's live so close and that our kids get along so well, especially since they are in the same class! LOL

 

And that evening we took the kids to the Mega Caverns to look at teh lights. Really Teagan is the only one old enough to really enjoy and remember the lights, but based on the picture you can see Emmersyn was mesmorized by the lights too!

This time of year is incredibly busy with school performances, dance performances, shopping, wrapping, family, doctors, etc, but I want to make sure my kids have memories of just us 5 doing fun family things at Christmas time! 

santa 2012

Teagan had her very first dance performance Friday night at Bass Pro Shop. Since her outfit was sort of Christmas-y I got Emmersyn a dress that matched and dressed the kids up in cute clothes for pictures with Santa. Teagan had been SO excited all day, and a bit of a handful, but I'm so glad for the memories!

 

This is actually after we got home for the night! We needed a good picture of all 3 kids for something we are doing for our parents for Christmas and I think this is a really good shot! I wish Brennen would have been awake, but really with 3 kids under the age of 4, it is fantastic!

 

And our Santa picture of 2012! This is a picture of a picture so it's a bit blurry, but it's still cute! Poor Santa didn't know what he was in for with the Murray zoo of kids!

Just a normal day

I'm gonna fill you in on a "normal" day at the Murray house for me now that Brennen is here and Matt is back to work...
It can be summarized into no sleep, lots of diaper changes, feedings, and butt wiping. But if you want a clearer picture here goes:
Brennen usually gets up between midnight and 1 for a bottle. I feed him and then hook myself up to a pump for the next 15-20 minutes of torture fun.  I then wash the parts and try to fall back to sleep.  Matt will give Brennen another bottle around 3 before he gets ready for work. He leaves at 4.  Emmersyn usually is up then for her bottle so I get up, make her a bottle, give it to her, and then go pump again.  Then, I get about 1.5-2hours of sleep until Brennen or Emmersyn get up for the day. (usually around 7:00-7:30) I take the babies down and change their diapers and clothes (if they're lucky) and then feed Brennen his bottle and put in the bouncer while I feed Emmersyn her breakfast. By that point, Teagan is usually up. I get her dressed, teeth brushed, medicine taken, and breakfast made.  Usually it is then time to pump again...oh goody!  All this before 8am!
At 10, I make Teagan a snack (usually something she can eat in the living room), make Emmersyn a bottle and take her up for a half hour-45min nap, and then feed Brennen a bottle and put him in the play pen for his nap. Teagan will usually then paint or want to cuddle and watch a movie with me. This is what I fondly refer to as "me time".  Granted, usually I have Teagan next to or on top of me, but it's the quietest time of my day!
Next, babies are up! Time to, you guessed it, change more butts!!!  LOL. Then, play a while, and get lunch ready. Emmersyn is easy. She'll eat ANYTHING! Teagan, on the other hand, is picky as hell. I can usually reheat something for her liking, but since Matt's been the one going to the store, it's slim pickings here. Your options are ketchup or pizza in my fridge! Welcome back college days!
After lunch it's survival play time til Matt gets home.  Also, by this point, I've usually managed to do the dishes somewhere in there.  Once Matt gets home, I can cook dinner without holding a baby. It's actually fun to cook when you can use 2 hands! He will usually play a fun game with Teagan while Emmersyn is down for her afternoon nap or hold Brennen so I can play with Teagan. 
A few thousand diapers later, it's time for dinner, followed by playtime and bath time.  The babies get a bath every other or every third day since it's so cold. One, they don't do much to get dirty, and two, I don't want to get them extra cold with being in and out of water.  Teagan gets a bath most nights now...unless of course I'm just utterly (get it, because I'm a pumping cow now) exhausted.
And then, the countdown to 8pm...BEDTIME for the older 2! After they are down, I feed Brennen again, hook up to the machine and veg in front of the tv for a few hours!
10pm and I top Brennen off and do a final pump before heading to bed to start over a few hours later!
Whew...tired just typing this!

weekend recap

We had a fairly busy weekend planned (for us anyways). Saturday Matt had to work in the morning and then we had Christmas pictures scheduled at 3:40. We had gotten Brennen's newborn pictures done already so I was only wanting a few family shots and a few with just the kids for our cards, but the kids would not cooperate for their picture so we just ended up with a family picture. Olan Mills was horrible this time too so that probably didn't add to their uncooperative mood.  We waited over 3 HOURS to get into the studio and we had an appointment! Crazy!

 

 It still is crazy to think that last year at the very same time I only had Teagan. I was huge and pregnant with Emmersyn, but Teagan was still an only child. Less than a year later and she has TWO younger siblings! WOW!!! I took this picture of the babies to compare and Emmersyn looks HUGE next to Brennen! It is so hard to believe she's still a baby herself.

Sunday, we decorated our Christmas tree! Teagan was SO excited. We put it up while Emmersyn was down for her morning nap because well, Emmersyn is a fiesty girl and we knew she'd be a handful to contain around all the ornaments! Surprisingly, she doesn't like the texture of the tree and has left it alone...for now!

After decorating the tree, we got Teagan ready for her pictures for dance class! If you're keeping track, that's 3 days of picture taking this week and we were done! She smiled pretty for the group shot, but was over it by the time they got her individual picture. Which was fine because we had no desire to buy more pictures anyways!

Doctor visit

I went to the doctor yesterday to get all my staples out.  FUN FUN! HA.  I had wanted to go see Dr. Norfleet, but she's still out of town until Friday and of course Matt goes back to work so I couldn't get in! BOO!
Dr. Stephens did a FANTASTIC job though of removing the staples she helped put in. Just a sting or two, but nothing bad!  I had lost 18 pounds in 9 days! WOW, if only I could have a new baby every week I may reach my ideal weight. Oh well, nothing worth worrying too much about.
She did ask if we were done having kids now. I am very content with my 3, but don't want to say never...especially after the last year I've had!  She then informed me that it would probably not be in my best interest to get pregnant again as my body would not tolerate another c-section well (it didn't do too well this time really).  If I did have another c-section, she said there would be a great chance of losing more of my bowel and intestines....Greeeeeaaaaat is what I thought in my hormonal state. And although I say I am good with my 3 now, I don't like to think of it never happening again. I hate closing the door on something completely!
Oh well, that's all. Now I have to think of options for not getting pregnant. Which is quite funny considering just 3 years ago I was classified as infertile! Funny how God works. Just wish he would point me in the right direction.

Newborn Photos

Matt and I took Brennen to get his newborn pictures done on Wednesday (8 days old).  I absolutely LOVE the photographer and her skills at taking newborn pics! If you are having a baby and live in So Indiana, go see Jennifer Lea in Corydon! She is well worth the money spent!

 

Some might like this hat for the Christmas season, but of course matt picked it for IU

 

 

Just chilling! 

 

Such a sweet boy! I LOVE sleeping babies!

 

 

I can't wait to see all of the shots! These were just the sneak peaks she posts 24hrs after the session! LOVE THEM!!!

Party of 5

We have been home since Friday afternoon and are trying to adjust to being a family of 5.  I really didn't think going from 1 to 2 was that bad so I was unsure what to think about going from 2 to 3. I will say it is a lot harder than I had really thought, but it could be because Emmersyn is still a baby herself instead of Teagan being 2.5 when Emmersyn was born. 

We left the house yesterday for the first time since we came home from the hospital, and Emmersyn probably left for the first time in a week since I don't allow others to drive her yet! HA. 

 

*Not sure why that indented, but can't figure out how to fix it*

We had Brennen's first doctor appointment yesterday at 1:30 so I thought it would be nice if we all went to lunch and then the doctor...you know, if you're gonna do it, do it right! The girls were great at lunch. I had managed to cram  put their carseats all in Matt's car the night before. Talk about tight fit! I do believe I will be getting a van sooner rather than later. We were probably a sight for everyone trying to get all the kids loaded and unloaded.
Brennen checked out great at the doctor! He is 7lb2oz now (7lb 8.8oz at birth) which is great.  They didn't measure him but I'm sure he didn't grow too much in a few days! Everything is looking good. He is thriving and happy so that means I am too!
I tried to find some Christmas outfits at Target for all of the kids since we are getting pictures done on Wed, but I couldn't find anything I liked.  I guess I will just be getting newborn pics for now and wait til a little later til I can go out and find something.  By the time we got out of the doctor, I was beat.  It was hot in the office plus Emmersyn doesn't like to be confined AT ALL so while we let her down to walk the office, we also held her more than she wanted.  And, well, Teagan is 3...enough said. She is awesome, but when she's done, she's done and by then end of the appointment, she was DONE! LOL
I see a lot of home time for me once Matt goes back to work Friday!

Welcome Brennen Michael!

We welcomed our newest baby, Brennen Michael Murray, into the family on Nov. 27, 2012. He arrived after a VERY long c-section (2.5 hours) that also included an unplanned surgery during it at 8:51am.  He weighed 7lbs 8.8oz and was 21 inches long.

 

Not too long after birth. I was unable to see him until about 2 hours after he came out due to complications, but Matt took this picture.

Sleeping like a baby! HA

 All ready to go home! He's even fist bumping...or is it pumping???

 Teagan met her little brother! She is in LOVE with him. She kept asking to kiss him and hold him. She's much more loving with him that she was or is with Emmersyn.

 

And finally, my other baby gets to meet her little brother. She really isn't too interested in him, but is a bit jealous at times when she sees me holding him.  I think they'll end up being good friends though.